Indonesia's Constitutional Court Dismisses Challenge to Vice President Gibran; He Stays in Office
JAKARTA — Indonesia's Constitutional Court has found that while Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka's education documentation for his candidacy in the 2024 election was incomplete, it did not disqualify him from office, and left the assessment of his eligibility to other institutions. All nine judges dismissed the petition seeking to annul his vice presidency. Chief Justice Suhartoyo delivered the ruling late on Tuesday, October 6, with reports published on October 7.
Judge Adies Kadir said the court found no convincing evidence that Gibran has a foreign diploma equivalent to having completed senior high school, or another equivalent school as stipulated in election law — but the court could not annul or disqualify him as requested, because the petition could no longer be treated as an election-results dispute once he had been sworn in as vice president to President Prabowo Subianto. The court also found that the authority to address his eligibility, given the absence of a graduation certificate, fell under other institutions, without providing further details. No graduation certificate was presented during the case, the ruling said.
Gibran, the son of former President Joko Widodo, attended Orchid Park Secondary School in Singapore and UTS Insearch in Australia before earning a bachelor's degree through the Management Development Institute of Singapore. During the hearings, an education ministry official acknowledged on October 2 that the equivalency assessment had not been based on a submitted diploma. Gibran's office did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
For the Prabowo administration, the decision removes, for now, a cloud of legal uncertainty over the vice presidency. But the court's formulation — documents incomplete, yet no disqualification — leaves opponents room to press the question in other institutions and in public debate. Analysts note that Prabowo's recent senior personnel changes have already been read as signs of strain with the Widodo family, and the vice president's political future remains tied to the balance between the two camps.
(Source: Compiled from Reuters reporting on)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：雅加达印尼宪法法院大楼正门。摄影：Dimas Ardian，CC BY 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
